Team A is new to dynasty fantasy football, and decided to put a star player on the trading block to help him rebuild (old team, lost many players to injuries, suspensions, and retirement). The commissioner entered into trade talks with Team A, and they went back and forth discussing a deal. Team A thought that the talks had hit a roadblock, so he told the commissioner he was going to talk to other teams, including the commissioner's two brothers, who were also in the league. The commissioner does not like this, so he sends angry text messages to his brothers, one of which (Team B) tells Team A that he is dropping out because of the text. The contents of the text are not known other than the fact that it was angry and hostile, but it is presumed that the commissioner was playing the "family card" in order to make sure that his brothers didn't compete with him, and vice versa. Regardless, the text message exchange did in fact cause Team B to drop out of the sweepstakes.
Team A wasn't necessarily trying to create a bidding war, but wanted to see what other offers were out there, and how much other teams valued the star player. Eventually, Team A and the commish struck a deal, which netted Team A more than any offer he had previously received. But Team A was upset with how the commissioner behaved. After the deal was processed, Team B was upset with the final trade, and told Team A that Team B could have offered Team B a better deal.
Is this collusion, unethical/shady, or neither?
